copyright the Chronicle June 7, 2017

by Elizabeth Trail

 

NEWPORT CENTER — A week ago, veterinarian Selena Hunter went back to her office for an evening emergency. When she pulled into the driveway, she saw a bat fluttering on the ground.

The bat came toward Ms. Hunter when she approached it, so she scooped it into a container with a shovel. The next day Game Warden Jenna Reed took it to the state Health Department for testing.

On Monday, word came back from the lab that the bat had rabies.

No one knows how long the little animal had been fluttering around the neighborhood.

“It was right in the village, three feet from the clinic steps,” Dr. Hunter said.

Her clients with their sick pet had been watching the grounded bat while they waited for her to arrive.

“It could have gone into a yard with a child,” Dr. Hunter said.

And the big unknown is where did this bat originate from? she wondered.

“How far did it travel? Where was it infected?”

People in and around Newport Center need to be sure that their pets — especially cats — are up to date on their shots, she said.

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